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TSA Agent Calls Passenger an Idiot; Wraps Himself in USA Flag, Flicks off Passenger

TSA Agent Calls Passenger an Idiot; Wraps Himself in USA Flag, Flicks off Passenger

Old Mar 10, 2014, 9:46 am
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TSA Agent Calls Passenger an Idiot; Wraps Himself in USA Flag, Flicks off Passenger

You can't make this stuff up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh53s8jVOSQ
UPDATED: More detail about this encounter and past encounters here:

http://freeinfreedom.com/2014/03/11/...elling-public/

Last edited by beofotch; Mar 11, 2014 at 1:16 pm Reason: added the detail on past encounters and context
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Old Mar 10, 2014, 12:09 pm
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Originally Posted by beofotch
You can't make this stuff up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh53s8jVOSQ
Well, at least he handled the flag with gloves on.
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Old Mar 10, 2014, 12:10 pm
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Smithers, fire that man.
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Old Mar 10, 2014, 7:32 pm
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He didn't "wrap himself" in a flag, he used it as a shield. Kinda symbolic really, the videographer exercising his constitutional right to film, and the inspector exercising his constitutional right to free speech (the idiot comment) and to seek out privacy (using the flag of LIBERTY to exercise this freedom). Very fitting, really.
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Old Mar 10, 2014, 7:42 pm
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Without context, I'm really loathe to make much of a judgment here. I suspect that the passenger filming this goaded the TSO into that remark and that behavior. TSOs are supposed to be better than that, of course. But if the passenger filming this was acting like an idiot for ten minutes before this event, this response may actually be quite admirable.

In short ... this video is so short that it's a Rorschach inkblot. People will see in it what they wish to see.
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Old Mar 10, 2014, 8:18 pm
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My question is this: Why is it necessary to have the American flag at the security check point? Is it intended to make the passengers or TSA agents feel more patriotic or to intimidate the flying public? To me it seems a bit disrespectful to the flag to have it in such a cluttered area when it can be put out of the way of the security screening and into a more dignified display area. I don't want to be one of those "precious flag" people but it seems that we have flags just about every where these days and I feel it unnecessary and frankly unpatriotic. Using the flag to physically obscure the filming process is tacky.
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 12:24 am
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Originally Posted by jkhuggins
Without context, I'm really loathe to make much of a judgment here. I suspect that the passenger filming this goaded the TSO into that remark and that behavior. TSOs are supposed to be better than that, of course. But if the passenger filming this was acting like an idiot for ten minutes before this event, this response may actually be quite admirable.

In short ... this video is so short that it's a Rorschach inkblot. People will see in it what they wish to see.
+1
We don't have any idea of what proceed this short video.
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 12:43 am
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Doesn't matter what preceded the video. Doesn't matter if the TSO was goaded. Unacceptable, unprofessional, and the TSO should be disciplined.
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 1:10 am
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Originally Posted by javabytes
Doesn't matter what preceded the video. Doesn't matter if the TSO was goaded. Unacceptable, unprofessional, and the TSO should be disciplined.
But, goading the TSO is acceptable? Oh, I see; anything to get the video!
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 1:20 am
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 1:29 am
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Originally Posted by NextTrip
But, goading the TSO is acceptable? Oh, I see; anything to get the video!
I don't know about goading, but filming is certainly acceptable. The irony here being the TSA agent seeking out privacy in an area designed to remove all privacy -- sometimes via molestation -- from the traveling public probably by this very same agent.

It is admirable that some of those posting find empathy for someone who deserves little, especially a someone who reacts with hostility for an act as innocuous as filming.
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 4:17 am
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my gosh, an American flag located at an unconstitutional endeavor !!!
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 8:17 am
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Originally Posted by FredAnderssen
It is admirable that some of those posting find empathy for someone who deserves little, especially a someone who reacts with hostility for an act as innocuous as filming.
One of these days, I'll need empathy when I don't deserve it ... and I hope someone will have pity on me and extend it to me. I can certainly treat others the way I would hope to be treated.

Note that, even in that terribly brief segment, it's not "just" filming. It's filming with an audio commentary. And it's the snarky sound of that commentary that suggests to me that this is the end of a much longer conversation: one that we really should hear in its entirety before rendering final judgment.
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 8:46 am
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The irony here being the TSA agent seeking out privacy in an area designed to remove all privacy.

Yes but the transparency is unidirectional, because we know Gov't agents would never
ever break the law. Not in this great nation.
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Old Mar 11, 2014, 9:18 am
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Originally Posted by jkhuggins
One of these days, I'll need empathy when I don't deserve it ... and I hope someone will have pity on me and extend it to me. I can certainly treat others the way I would hope to be treated.

Note that, even in that terribly brief segment, it's not "just" filming. It's filming with an audio commentary. And it's the snarky sound of that commentary that suggests to me that this is the end of a much longer conversation: one that we really should hear in its entirety before rendering final judgment.
In the past, TSO over-reaction at the checkpoint has been justified, in part, because 'disruptive' pax are a distraction that can 'interfere with the screening process' and put everyone in danger (the excuse, IIRC, for going after the shirtless guy with the 4th amendment painted on his torso).

In the interests of safety, staying focused on the mission, TSOs need to realize that when they allow themselves to be distracted - by pax taking photos, their cellphone, conversations with their bros, hot female pax - they put themselves and everyone else at risk.

Ever see the guards at Buckingham Palace? Or our US military at attention? That's an exercise in not allowing one's self to be distracted.

When a TSO like this allows himself to be distracted, he's demonstrating that he's only human, I get that. But he's also behaving unprofessionally and potentially putting everyone at that checkpoint at risk. He's not only allowed himself to be distracted, by his very actions, he's distracting others.

'Sticks and stones'...they're professional folks and should behave accordingly. Their own training warns them of the dangers of one bad guy creating a distraction to enable another bad guy. Fortunately, it appears that this time no one was harmed.

It's a bit like having an OR nurse who freaks at the sight of blood. If you can't maintain professional behavior, perhaps you're in the wrong line of work.
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